Friday, January 10, 2020

Andorra Applied for Membership in the IMF

On January 9, 2020, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) informed the Executive Board that the Government of the Principality of Andorra has applied for membership in the IMF. The application for admission to IMF membership from the Principality of Andorra will be considered in due course.

Under the IMF's procedures, the application will be considered by the IMF's Executive Board, which will then submit a recommendation to the Board of Governors of the IMF in the form of a Membership Resolution. The recommendation covers the amount of quota in the IMF, the form of payment of the subscription, and other customary terms and conditions of membership.

After the Board of Governors has adopted the Membership Resolution, the applicant country may become a member once it has taken the legal steps required under its law to enable it to sign the IMF's Articles of Agreement and to fulfill the obligations of IMF membership.

The IMF currently has 189 member countries.

About Andorra

Andorra, also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra (Catalan: Principat de les Valls d'Andorra), is a sovereign landlocked microstate on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe, having an area of 181 square miles (468 square kilometers) and a population of approximately 77,006.

Andorra has long benefited from its status as a tax haven, with revenues raised exclusively through import tariffs. However, during the European sovereign-debt crisis, its tourist-based economy suffered a decline, partly caused by a drop in the prices of goods in Spain, which undercut Andorran duty-free shopping.